The Finger Is Poised Over The Big Red Button

If I were Hollywood, I'd be sweating right now.

If I were Roger Goodell, I'd be sweating right now.

If I were just about anyone within the purview of any of Gawker's sites (which could include MRA's, the politicians, the video game industry, etc. and so forth and so on), I'd be sweating right now.

Why?

Let's put it this way:  I've sourced enough material from Deadspin to know that a large part of the draw of Deadspin (and probably several of the other sites as well) is based in IDGAF.

Hulk Hogan is going to own Deadspin and Gawker Media by the end of Monday.  He's going to have the entire company to the tune of several hundred million dollars, the extent of which to be known Monday and probably only, at this point, limited by the statement the jury wishes to make.

If Hulk Hogan and his lawyers are smart, they will shut down Gawker Media through a court order the instant the damages are known (or, at barest of minimums, freeze all further material from the site).

Hell, he should've done this the moment he got the $115,000,000 in compensatories this afternoon.

Why?

The Nuclear Option.

I would have to think, especially as salacious as Gawker's websites have been, this is going to be a very interesting 72 hours to watch their sites.  If they have a nuclear bomb story (say, something which might take down a Bernie or Hillary or especially Trump or Goodell, etc.), they might just put it out there, devils be damned.

And there are two schools of thought on all of this.

The first one thought of (and I hat-tip my anonymous friend) is, in the concept of limiting the punitive damages, hold off until such time the punitives are announced, sit down with their lawyers, figure out what to do, and, if there's no chance of getting it reduced to a manageable amount, then...

But there are two caveats with this:  One, it's clear the evidence was OVERWHELMING against Gawker -- it took the jury less than a day to nail Gawker to the wall for nine figures.  Two, the jury might send a message with this, and put the figure so high, it's ridiculous.

(A third added on edit:  The heads of Gawker said they probably would be out of business even putting up the $50,000,000 needed for the bond!)

Again, if Hogan is smart, he should've already taken this action, but had better, come Monday:  He and his lawyers should basically order a complete cease and desist on the website.  That means ZERO content further -- that the entire existence of Gawker Media is damaging and invasive in the same way it was to Hogan himself.

And that's the other side:  If such a Nuclear Option exists, Hogan has every legal right (and probably, now, an OBLIGATION) to see it never make print.  And if Hogan knows Gawker's style like I think he does, this could be a very interesting weekend to keep an eye on all the Gawker sites.